There are many things that go into producing a good work of art, but not all are relevant for all types of art. Texture for example is very important in sculpture and oil painting. But with tempera painting texture is irrelevant since tempera produces such a flat surface. It seems to me that there are (at least) three qualities that all great fine art, and probably all other great art, possesses:
- Contrast
- Modulation
- Ambiguity
Contrast
By contrast I mean placing something next to its opposite to emphasis that aspect of the work. For example, if I was creating a sculpture of a soldier and wanted him to look strong and powerful then I wouldn't put him in amongst other soldiers. If I did that then in comparison to the other soldiers our subject would just seem ordinary. If I want to emphasise the strength and power of our soldier then I should put him next to a mother and child. The contrast between his physique and the softness of the mother and child will emphasise his strength and make him seem even stronger and more powerful.
This works for all aspects of art. If you want a colour to seem particularly warm then you should contrast it with a cool colour. If you want a surface to seem very smooth then you should contrast it with a rough surface. Rodin did this with some portraits by having the sitter's face emerge from rough hewn stone. The results were, in my opinion, the most delicate portraits of women ever made.
Modulation
This is the subtle variation of some aspect of a work of art. For example, if your sculpture has a rough surface then don't have the same degree of roughness all over, rather, have subtle variations in how rough it is. Or if your painting has a large block of red then don't just paint it a uniform colour, but instead vary slightly the shade of red over the block. Doing this holds the viewer's attention much longer. If your sculpture has a uniform texture (for example, Brancusi's sculptures) then as soon as the viewer has looked at the work he has seen it and will move his attention to the next sculpture. But if you vary the texture of the sculpture then the viewer's eyes will wander over the work and be held by it for much longer.
Again, this works for all aspects of an art work. For example, if you look at old master works then if there is, say, a line of people all facing the same direction then the figures will all be at slightly different angles to each other. Some people over do this and have their figures all facing entirely different directions, making the group seem like a jumbled mess. The idea here is to modulate. That is, the figures all still face the same direction, but there are slight variations in which way they are facing.
Ambiguity
This is where you don't fill all of the details for the viewer and they have to use their imagination when viewing the work. There are two types of ambiguity:
- Content Ambiguity
- Structural Ambiguity
Content Ambiguity
This only really applies to figurative works. It is where the viewer is not quite sure what is going on, what the characters are thinking, or whether the character will win or lose. In each case the viewer's imagination starts roving over all of the possible alternatives posed by the ambiguity in the work. I think this is the most powerful way to draw in the viewer. Often ambiguity won't grab the viewer by the throat, but it will draw them in seductively and hold them for much longer and more intensely than any brash attention grabber will.
Structural Ambiguity
This is what I am most interested in at the moment. This is where the image itself is not clear. Imagine a woman standing in the dark so that you can only see part of her. Even though you can only see a small part of her in the darkness your mind will automatically fill in all of the details. Art functions in much the same way. If you look at old master drawings then you will notice that they won't draw a solid outline around the figures, rather at some points the figure will merge with the background. It is as though the figure is lost in darkness in some parts or in the fog or glare of the sun in others.
The fact that your mind has to fill in the details holds the viewer's attention. In some works this form of ambiguity is taken so far that you are left wondering what, if anything, it is a picture of.
This form of ambiguity has traditionally been neglected in sculpture. Medardo Rosso is the first person that I know of to have used structural ambiguity in his sculptures. Gonzalez and Gabo are other notable sculptors to use it. Surprisingly, despite the work of these masters, it is still little used today.